Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging systems are known in the art. Such CMOS imaging systems use CMOS devices having an array of picture elements (pixels) to generate digital image data. The digital image data from such CMOS devices is then processed and stored, such that the image can be recreated from the stored pixel data.
Although such CMOS imaging systems are known in the art, they have not been applied to component inspection systems. One reason why such CMOS imaging systems have not been used is because the speed of image processing is slower than equivalent systems and methods, such as systems utilizing Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) or methods requiring operator review of image data. In addition, earlier attempts to increase camera speed resulted in image distortion. One reason for such image distortion may have been the minimum settling time required before the CMOS sensor could capture the next image. Other problems have also been encountered, such as poor image quality that rendered the pixel data generated by the CMOS sensor unusable.
Thus, although CMOS sensors have been applied for various imaging applications, the application of CMOS sensors for component inspection has not been accomplished because of these problems.